Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1887-03-24
CAPITAL CULLINGS.
Matters of General interest from the
State Capital,
AndLegisiatiye Resume.

Matters of General Interest from the
State Capital,
And Legislative Resume.
The bill to regulate the conditional sale
OF personal chattels has passed the house
committee of the whole and is likely to
! become IA law. This act is framed to over
come the frauds which occur by reason of
selling goods on contract. 1t Is profit
abe custom of furniture and sewing
machine companies to sell goods on month
ly payments. The company retains a
nominal ownership of the goods by means
| of contract which recites that the pur-
chaser shall not be regarded as owner of
the goods until the last payment is made.
This provision gives the company perfect
indemnity, for the goods can he seized at
any time under the contract. The plan
requires such small cash payments
that the most exorbitant prices are
charged for goods: The business has
grown to be much like that of the chattel
mortgage sharks. The worst feature Of
| the custom has been that it offered un-
limited opportunity for frauds. Persons
in impecunious circumstances have ire
quently secured large credit from the ex-
tensive stock OF goods or furniture they
have had. This had been bought on con
| tract, and was therefore not owned by the
one in possession. The pubic records did
not disclose the conditional nature of the
| ownership. In many cases these goods
have been sold by the one in possession,
but the purchaser soon found that there
| was prior title in the merchant who had
| sold them on contract. The Mayo bill
| makes all three conditional contracts void
unless copy is filed with the town or
city clerk, the same as in chattel mort.
cages. This will stop frauds, as the entire
| contract will be matter OF record, sub
ject to public inspection.
William A. Smith of Grand Rapids has
been appointed game and fish warden.
The Traverse City asylum for the insane
| should lie turned over t. the homeopathic
| doctors, according to the report OF the
| committee for that institution. This viii
| precipitate a war between the pathies.
Hotel feats can still beat, ms the bill for
| hotel-kcepers' protection has been reported
adversely in the house.
The joint judiciary committee of the two
| houses have agreed to fix the limit of the
"age OF consent" at 10 years. A ajority
favored a limit of IA years.
On st. Patrick's day the house adopted
a resolution expressive of sympathy with
Ireland, and hopeful of the triumph Of
| home rule.
Not long ago there passed both houses
without dissenting votes a ! ill to organize
| the Township OF Dustin, Altoona county,
| out of a part OF the territory of Harris.
vile. Ub ection Icing made by citizens
after the governor had approved the act,
| Gnother bill was introduced repeating the
| first one and this too has been passed
without Il disappearing vote.
The ways and means committee OF the
house have cut down the estimates for the
oidiers' home $4,000 or moro and may
make still further reductions. The items
| thus far reduced are for soap, gasoline,
care of horses, salaries and grading.
The house has passed the senate bill
which permits live stock insurance com
| panies to deposit with the state treasurer,
as security Tor liability to insured parties,
| county and city bonds as well as United
| States bonds.
All after the enacting clause has been
stricken out of the bill to increase the
salaries of the judges of the supreme court
to $1,000 a year. An amendment to make
the salary $4,000 was also rejected
The senate has agreed to Mr.. Stark's bill
enumerating who shall be subject to mill
| tary duty, in short, all able-bodied male
| citizens between the ages of Is and 45 years
| not exempted by the laws of this state or
| of the United States. The enrolled militia
| shall not be subject TO active military duty
| except in case of war, rebellion, invasion,
| the prevention of invasion, the suppression
| of riots tumults and breaches Of the peace,
and to aid civil officers in the execution OF
| the laws and the service of process, in
which case they may he ordered out for
| actual service, by draft or otherwise, or SO
many of them as the necessity demands.
The persons exempted from military
duty are the judges of the supreme, cir
| cult, district and probate courts members
| and officers of the legislature, officers and
guards of prisons and all state and county
officers except notaries public. The amend
| ments to the existing law consists in ex-
Guiding from the exemptions they now en-
| JOY ministers of the gospel, teachers in
public institutions and public schools be-
| tween the ages of Is and 49, and commits
stoned officers of the state militia who
have served eight years.
! Amendments were proposed to strike
out from the exempt list members and
officers of the legislature. Senators Palm
| while such an amendment might be a mat
ter of merry making at the present time
! and under tranquil circumstances, il
would he serious affair in case of war,
insurrection or INVASION when, il at no
| other time, the n, cessity for government
! is most apparent. The amendments were
| rejected.
The Ohio men who hold Office in the
| capital have organized an association and
| sent their compliments to the Ohio gen
| eral assembly. The membership here in
! cludes the governor, Senator Stark and
| fifteen representatives Gov. Luce is
president and Representative Hosford Is
secretary.
The manual for the present legislature
has been published. The statistics of
| the senate show the oldest mem
Der to be Mr.. Potter, aged 50; the
Youngest Mr. Giddings, age q. The ma
tivity Of senator's is as follows: New
York, Is, nearly half of the entire member
ship; Michigan o; Ireland, 3; Scotland, 2;
many years the German popu lation, so
extensive in this state, is not represented
in the senate. by member of that nation
| atty. This fact gave occasion to the Ger
man newspapers, commenting on the pas
sage of the prohibitory amendment, to
| deplore the absence of some Of their hon
ored and trusted representatives OF form
er sessions. 1t may be said, also, that
never was the membership of the senate
concentrated SO numerously in sons of
| New York.
The oldest member OF the house is Rep
youngest, Representative Hosford CLOSELY
followed by Ogg) of Wayne, age 26 The
nativity of members of the house is de-
scribed as being from Michigan, 32-nearly
| one third of all; New York, 20-one-fifth
| of all Ohio 1l-one-seventh of all; Cana
I da, 10-one tenth of ALL Ireland, 3; Eng
| land, 3; Massachusetts,, 9; New Brunswick,
=; Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Indiana,
Tennessee, Mississippi, New Jersey, Swe-
| den, Prussia, Baden and Switzerland
each |.